False Security
Welcome!
I wrote False Security: The Real Story About Airline Safety right after 9/11 for the more than 100 million people in this country who travel by air. They had something new to worry about in addition to hijackings and accidents—their pilot may be suicidal. There were airline captains flying then (and probably today) for major airlines who have tried to commit suicide while they were serving as active pilots. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has attributed at least one fatal airline crash to pilot suicide.
The main reason I wrote the book was because I had been told personally by two United pilots that they had tried to take their own lives. I had known these two gentlemen for several years and never would have suspected it. They also told me that when they revealed this fact to United Airlines, the management put them through a rehab program and returned them to flying paying passengers. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be locked into one of those aluminum tubes with a pilot who may not want to live to see us arrive safely at our destination.
This hidden risk, along with many others, are revealed in False Security: The Real Story About Airline Safety. For example, the biggest threat to safe air travel was then, and is still today, pilot impairment due to stress and fatigue.
Capt. Dave
Contents
Chapter 1: Aerial Odyssey
Chapter 2: The Connection
Chapter 3: Hidden Risks
Chapter 4: False Security
Chapter 5: Air Travelers’ Heaven
Chapter 6: The Power
Chapter 7: The Vision
Chapter 8: Halfway to Anywhere
Chapter 9: The Arrival
Chapter 10: Real Security
Chapter 11: Just the Facts
Chapter 12: Flying Blind
Chapter 13: Ascending Unto Heaven
Pre-Flight Briefing
“False security is just as good as real security, right up to the time it’s tested.”
~ Capt. David C. Koch
Ladies and gentlemen this is your captain speaking—literally. You are about to embark on a journey that is guaranteed to be shocking, frightening, interesting, enlightening, optimistic and sometimes humorous. You can expect a few bumps along the way, but I promise a happy landing in an air-travel future that you can help to create.
This expedition, like all really good adventures, will take you places that you have never been before. It will also show you the behind-the-scenes real world of air travel and some of the politics that come into play in establishing the level of safety and convenience that you experience while traveling by airline in the U.S. today. I’ll even drag a skeleton out of the airline industry’s closet—it’s a “doozy”. I can assure you that I saw quite a few in the two decades that I flew as a pilot for United Airlines. And my extracurricular activities (e.g., pilot-union activist, special assistant to the president of United Airlines for Space Shuttle acquisition and others) provided me with a unique insight into the workings of a major airline.
This book will also give you a very close look at some air-travel problems that will cause you great concern. After reading it, I believe you will agree that your personal safety while flying aboard a U.S. airliner has been compromised beyond all reasonable limits. But take heart, this is also a story about a possible future that will fill you with optimism.
We will also visit the philosophical question “is false security just as good as real security”? This is a question that I have been pondering for the past several years. I’ll try to convince you, in a sometimes-humorous manner, that it is—right up to the time it’s tested.
If you are an air traveler, you are currently entrusting your very life to an airline system that you probably don’t really know much about. If you live on the same planet as I do, I know that you have grave doubts about the real safety and security of the U.S. air-transportation system. This book will provide you with the facts that you need to make informed decisions about the air-travel solutions that you choose, and it will give you genuine hope for a better air-travel future.
The first ten chapters of “False Security” contain a fictional account of the experiences of one hapless air traveler who discovers the difference between false security and real security in a most poignant manner. Our intrepid adventurer also encounters a future that is far more positive than you may now believe possible.
I must emphasize, however, that the story in the first 10 chapters is fictional. I made the whole thing up. But like all fiction, the characters and events in the story are based upon composites of real people and actual events.
The future that I write about is purely a figment of my imagination. However, it too is based upon thinking that I have come across in my study of forward thinkers like Werner von Braun, Buckminster Fuller and Robert Heinlein. I’ll leave it up to you to make up your own mind about how real it can become.
Chapter 11, “Just The Facts”, offers a transition from our fictional world back into reality. I’ll take you behind the scenes at the airlines to show you how airline politics really work. The facts presented in this chapter should confirm for you that certain parts of the fictional story presented in chapters 1 through 10 could be real. By the end of this chapter, you should be able to make up your mind about false security versus real security.
In Chapter 12, “Flying Blind”, we’ll take a hard-nosed, non-fiction look at one of the major air-travel-related issues that you will encounter in our fictional story—pilot impairment. At least one aspect of this growing problem will shock you, and I believe it will fill you with indignation. For apparently, the airline industry has perpetrated a massive cover-up of the facts related to this problem.
As an air traveler, you have a right to know about the airline-industry problems that have an impact on your safety. This lack of candor on the part of airline managers may have already led to the loss of the lives of many innocent air travelers. After you read this chapter and give it careful consideration, I think you will agree that SOMETHING MUST BE DONE.
Chapter 13, “Ascending Unto Heaven”, provides you with a flight plan that will set you on a course to a better way to fly. I suggest that you study this flight plan particularly carefully. I can honestly say that I believe it will take you exactly where you want to go.
I had a great time writing this book. In the 37 years that I have been an aviation industry professional, I have always enjoyed sharing what I know about the industry with fellow air travelers. Contributing to the enjoyment of writing this book was the fact that I have co-written it with my wife, copilot, business partner and friend, Christine. She and I have been flying together as professional pilots for the past 8 years. It was fun to apply our cockpit-resource-management skills to another field of endeavor.
In addition to writing a large portion of the book, Christine did virtually all of the intensive research that was needed to bring to you the latest information on the state of the airline industry. She also designed the layout for the book and type-set it. It is truly a blessing to have such a talented partner.
Christine and I believe that when you have finished reading the book, you will have a realistic basis for making safe air-travel decisions. You will also have the knowledge to secure (for yourself, and your loved ones) fast, convenient, safe and secure air travel. We’re sure that you will also have discovered some new ideas. They might lead you to places you haven’t even dreamed of yet. You will also have the means at your disposal to do something about the appalling decline in the U.S. airline industry. But most of all, we want you to come away from False Security with a clear view of the differences between false security and real security.
So, welcome aboard. Please, just sit back, relax and enjoy the flight.
Capt. David C. Koch
False Security: The Real Story About Airline Safety
Publisher: The Aerospace Trust Press
Copyright 2003
ISBN: 0-9726991-1-2
Available in paperback